Wyoming

January 01, 2018

It's time for December All At Once™! For anyone who is on top of their December memory-keeping, as always I encourage you to check out Ali Edwards' December Daily® project, which is actually a real thing. For the rest of us, play along with my not-actually-trademarked project! Today I will break Typepad with all the pictures I'm putting in this post, so like usual, if you are easily bored by posts with too many pictures (many of questionable technical value) please visit soon for Best of 2017 books/music/other things posts.

: )

December felt a little bit like a scramble from the beginning since we were driving back from Ohio on "get ourselves together after Thanksgiving" weekend. We had to acquire and decorate our tree in shifts because of all the other things going on; Riverbend Nursery to the rescue as usual. The lady working asked to take a picture of us with our tree for their Facebook page, which actually turned out pretty well considering none of us had yet taken a shower that morning. Haha. The van was demoted from tree-hauling duty, and it was Maddie's turn to put the tree topper on. Her next turn will be December of her freshman year of college. WAAAAAAAAAH.

Christmas party season kicked off the first weekend of the month with the Wing Commander's Reception; 16 other Christmas parties would follow AND I AM NOT EVEN MAKING THAT UP. Pictured: me and my 2017 work-partner-in-crime, Sharon. Spoiler: by the last Christmas party I wore jeans, a t-shirt, and a ponytail. Heh.

Bridget and Ellie helped us pretend it would be a calm and restful month.

I was assigned to bring a fun holiday drink for a Christmas party I went to, so I channeled someone's inner Canadian (I don't actually have any inner Canadian as far as I know, but the internet helped) and made something called Moose Milk.

Matt's big December adventure was attending National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas; he also got invited to play fantasy NFR by Gracie's science teacher (who happens to be a long-time CFD family friend of ours)(I had no idea you could actually play fantasy rodeo) and he texted us some fun photos from the Thunderbirds visit portion of the trip. Cheyenne and the Thunderbirds have a very close relationship because of Cheyenne Frontier Days, so it's always part of the NFR trip.

MEANWHILE, I was busy cutting 28 of these Cheyenne Gymnastics thingies with my Silhouette Portrait for the coach to adhere to the team's new backpacks; it started out as an Elizabeth Should Have Kept Her Mouth Shut project because I really don't have the Silhouette skills yet to pull off such a project, but in the end they turned out perfectly. We headed off to Evanston, WY (5.5 hours from Cheyenne) for the girls' first meet of the season—it was a weird meet, and they did better than their scores would indicate. The season truly kicks off the first weekend of January, and it was good to shake off the cobwebs at a smaller meet.

If you're following the story problem correctly, you'll note that Matt was in Las Vegas while we needed to go to Evanston which meant Ellie got her second road trip in two weeks. I ground my teeth and bought an extra night at the hotel so she could hang out while the girls were competing; I suppose it isn't so much different from back in the days where she had to stay in the kennel while we traveled. She had a great time, enjoyed herself immensely in the hotel, and didn't try to die at any point along the way, which really made us realize once again that this dog just hates Rock Springs. Funny story: on the way home we stopped at McDonald's to get a quick dinner to eat in the car; Maddie got a salad with chicken on it, and Ellie raced back to the backseat, put her paw in Maddie's face, turned into Iron Strength Dog and proceeded to scarf all the chicken down. Much drama ensued, and I'm sure anyone walking past the van (we were still in the parking lot) couldn't figure out what in the world was going on. After everyone had calmed down from the Chicken Drama, I got back on the road and TOTALLY FORGOT TO GET GAS. Which meant I was in the middle of Wyoming with literally 16 miles 'til empty in the tank when I realized. If you've ever driven in the middle of Wyoming in the dark with this little gas in the tank you know this is a TERRRRRRRIBLE plan. I panic-asked Siri where the nearest gas station was, and we ended up turning around and driving back to Sinclair, WY. Which is hilarious and ironic, because Sinclair, WY is THE Sinclair of the Sinclair Oil Refinery. I have never been happier to see a gas station IN MY LIFE. I definitely dodged a bullet there, because running out of gas within a 15 mile radius of Sinclair, WY is something I would never live down.

Matt won a little money in Las Vegas so we bought extra gifts for our angel tree recipients. (Not pictured: a little make-up/bath kit for the 16 year old one).

Not in the right order: Christmas concert photos. Bridget had her first-ever band concert, Maddie played in both the orchestra's and the band's concerts for a total of two evenings, and Gracie had her first middle school concert. All were festive.

At some point before the middle of the month, we ran out of coffee because I didn't order it in time to cover the gap. It was not our best couple of days drinking sad substitutes, haha. I went over to Fall Hall one day to get a plain old coffee and admired their very Christmas-y sign. I haven't been so happy to see a package in a while when it finally arrived!

Baby Gracie turned THIRTEEN years old! Seriously, time just flies. No class to take magic cookies to in middle school, but she still requested them for her lunch table friends, a couple of teachers, and her gymnastics team. Cellophane and sticks = still the magic recipe. We tried to surprise her with Trombone Shorty tickets (he is coming to Cheyenne of all places!!) but she wasn't as surprised as we thought she'd be because no one in this town can keep their mouth shut about a famous trombone player coming to put on a concert. She still was over the moon, and is counting down the days until January 31!

I did manage to pull off two actual Christmas surprises; pictured here: a CFD coin holder thingy designed by the Arts & Crafts Center on base for Matt (that will actually serve to hold belt buckles even better) and a custom "Share a Coke with Yushika" Christmas coke bottle that I randomly sent to my friend Shika. It was so fun to pull off actual Christmas surprises. 🎉

We didn't pull off Gracie's Gingerbread House/Birthday Party extravaganza this year (boo) but she did get to go to a fun birthday party at a pottery painting place downtown for a friend who also turned 13 in December.

A handful of photos found on my camera roll from CFD Christmas parties; not even close to representative of the people we saw and Christmas parties attended. We sure do love our CFD family.

A shoddy picture of Bridget's school program; it was, uhm, not quite the same style of program like last year's most brilliant one ever. Ah well, can't win them all.

The December timeline is getting muddier and muddier by this point; I did get gifts out on time (except for Deb's, which I forgot in the basement on the day I visited the secret UPS warehouse). UPS and I are currently embroiled in a bit of a scuffle about a broken gift, but otherwise I'm still thankful for the secret UPS warehouse.

As for other gifts, in a 24 hour period I made 11 little calendars, 8 dozen biscochitos, two trays of pine park, two batches of fudge (Mexican, orange), a triple batch of chocolate-covered cherries (thankfully Matt was not sick this year so I didn't have to do that by myself like last year), 16 hot chocolate gifts for school friends, and packaged everything up to hand out. It was not the earliest night of all time.

I managed to get Christmas cards out on time! Unless your name started with T, U, V, W, Y, or Z in which case I didn't order enough cards or stamps this year and had to order more after Christmas. GAH. One of these days I'll be on top of it.

No Gingerbread House party this year, but Maddie invited four friends over to decorate Christmas cookies after school got out (not included in the previous baked goods rundown) and between Maddie, her friends, Gracie, and Bridget we had the most beautiful Christmas cookies produced in this house, ever. I always end up making a different icing recipe but this year I'm keeping the one we used because it turned out perfectly. That, and I remembered in time that all we had for decorations last year was one lame bottle of ice cream sprinkles, so I stocked up beforehand.

Oh yeah! I worked a lot in December. I have two new design project contracts and squeezed in a couple of photo shoots. Fun.

Megan and her sister braved the snowy roads and came to see Coco with us, which was hands down my favorite Pixar movie EVER, and maybe even in my top ten movies of all time. We all loved it. Post-movie, Megan spent the night and she and Maddie baked a whole lot of goodies for Christmas gifts until sometime near the middle of the night. It was fun. And no, we have not actually reached Christmas yet in this post.

And then, Christmas Eve. We had our traditional pizza with Pizza Hut Dr Pepper things for Christmas Eve dinner; it was a quiet, fun, and more relaxed night than any previous night in December. I managed to get most gifts wrapped BEFORE 10 pm on Christmas Eve, so I didn't even have to pull a super late night. We had tamales and posole for Christmas dinner, and the last thing I did before I went to bed on Christmas Eve was put the posole in a pot to soak.

As a rule I don't generally take too many Christmas morning photos, but we were so happy that Ellie made it to Christmas that we do have more than normal this year. She is a tough dog, and so happy to laze around like a spoiled dog on her favorite holiday.

Matt and I headed over to the Dining Facility to serve lunch for a while, which is a cool tradition the base leadership does here.

A few random things: we Sara-sat over break, and every day I took a picture of Sara with a different kid to send to Abby and Wes. We love Sara! I received an awesome package from my Book Bingo Secret Santa (oh! I forgot to add Secret Santa gifts to the list of things I managed in December: one for me, multiple for the girls, whew). Bridget and I were out running a couple errands the day after Christmas and spotted this super weird rainbow that we now know was a sun dog. I have never heard of such a thing somehow but now have heard of it at least ten times since December 26. Weird how the world works like that. And weirder still that I've lived in so many cold places and have never seen or heard of it before.

The Hunts came to town! For less than 24 hours, but still, we'll take anything we can get! It was so fun to have Jill, Curtis, and their wild monkeys in our house at Christmastime. Ellie had a bit of a scary night while they were here, but recovered by midnight.

See?

We had some freezing fog so I headed to the lake to take some pretty freezing fog (now I know it's called rime ice) photos; Cora came for our second base movie of the week (Wonder, awesome) and we hit the library and the Discover Space exhibit there.

I sent these little second grade girls (!!!!) off to see a movie on their own (!!!!) and while they were gone, Bridget, Gracie and I went on our traditional New Years' Eve bookstore adventure (Matt was out in the field for alert). We got a couple good books and three new records for our new record player courtesy of Nana and Papa.

The month closed out with a freezing cold walk with Ellie the Miracle Dog, a quick visit to a base New Years' Eve party, another good movie (Queen of Katwe) and a deep breath to face whatever 2018 has in store for us.

May 22, 2017

Being a military kid isn't always the easiest thing to be. As has been discussed here ad nauseum over the years, it's hard for obvious reasons: the moving, the giving up of routine and normalcy, the making of new friends, the moving into strange houses and bedrooms and states thousands of miles from home even when the "home" in question was just another temporary stop along the way.

But sometimes, being a military kid is awesome. It's basically like being a foreign exchange student all the time. What do foreign exchange students do? They learn the culture. They make friends with different upbringings than themselves. They learn to think about things in more than one way. They experience. Not to say non-military kids don't do those same things, because they do! It's just that military kids do those things at a dizzying rate—a rate that is synced up with conditions and considerations completely out of their control. Like all good comedians with a background in improv know, the best way to approach life is to say "yes and—" and dole out the "no thank yous" sparingly. It is much the same for the military kid.

Which brings us to Sunday, when two of the kids in Gracie's class this year hosted an end-of-year party. However, they live so far away and the snow was so bad last week they cancelled the party on Saturday, thinking people might get stuck on the many miles of dirt roads required to reach them. Except we didn't get the memo because the mama didn't have my number, so we showed up with our potluck treat in hand. This family is so great they didn't even mind we were suddenly crashing their Sunday afternoon. I am so glad we didn't get the memo, because we had a BALL.

I mean, come on—we got to see this view for most of the way to their house!

This family owns a few horses of varying sizes, and Gracie got a crash course in how to ride on a pony named Joe. Joe and Gracie were meant to be, because proportionally, they were a perfect fit: small horse, small girl. I thought she might freak out a little about how much her friends' mom expected her to do—but because she was patient and extremely calm in her instruction, Gracie got the hang of it with a huge smile on her face and no issues at all. A more distant version of Gracie might have panicked about being up that high on a living creature for sure and shut the fun down in a hot second. Hey, parents of spirited, sensitive toddlers: it gets better. Truly.

Within 20 minutes, they were off for a ride around the property. Just like that. Now granted, Joe is a well-trained, calm horse who has been there and done that much like Matt's CFD horse Kiwi, but still—good heavens.

She worked on posting and trotting and if we hadn't finally told her it was time to wrap up, this kid might have ridden all the way to Mexico.

She got lessons on how to dismount a horse (not scary, since she spends so much time dismounting gymnastics equipment) and also how to clean up the hooves.

Her friends' dad was getting ready to help in a branding next weekend.

The three kiddos took off on a no-faster-than-10-mph hay ride via ATV as the afternoon clouds rolled in, just before we went in for a snack.

We've lived in Wyoming for a large part of Gracie's life, but she has never spent an afternoon quite like this one. It was definitely one of those days that make all the moving, the heartbreak, and the hassle of being a military kid 110% worth it.

May 19, 2017

Last weekend we hosted the Karahalis family and spent a good 50% of our time with them outdoors in the sunshine, surrounded by freshly planted flowers, hanging baskets, new porch furniture, and warmth.

Two days later, we were preparing for a giant snowstorm, which ended up going down as the heaviest late-May snowstorm in 74 years. We've seen plenty of May snow, but this storm was especially destructive. It's a good thing I love to take pictures of blooming trees, because spoiler alert: not many blooming things survived this storm.

By early Thursday morning, the snow had already started. I took a picture out the window to send to our neighbors—they're in Florida for a wedding and because they moved from Hawaii last summer, I needed photographic proof that I wasn't making it up, haha.

As the day went on yesterday the trees were more and more damaged. Big old cottonwood branches are down everywhere and this happy tree behind our house and every tree like it on base is split in multiple places. I can't imagine they'll recover. Spring snow is painfully heavy.

I thought for sure the district would cancel school today, especially since they pretty much told the rural kids to stay home and we know what a bad idea it is to call school off early in this town, but nope. Maddie woke me up at 5:30 to see if there was a snow day (gah) and was furious about having to bundle up for school, but that's the way it goes. I was reminded that while May moves are already pretty bad, a May move in the middle of a giant snowstorm is truly the worst. I might print this picture out for the fridge next time we're getting ready to move to remind me of that perspective.

Ellie had the best time, even though we looked like White Walkers when we returned home—seriously, just plastered in snow. But she certainly isn't going to skip her daily routine for some weather. I find it hilarious that I took what amounts to the same picture today as I did four years ago. She loves snow.

I had a meeting with a client who was over from Laramie so trudged out for that, and when I returned home I shut the garage door and nearly got knocked out by the snow that fell off the roof onto my head, down my coat, in my bag... except for a few seconds I had no idea what had happened and I jumped ten feet in the air because it startled me so much. I'm glad my neighbors are in Florida and not watching me from their kitchen sink, which I happen to know for a fact is a front row seat to any antics that take place at our current house having washed my dishes over there for three years.

As I reached outside trying to get the mail yesterday without the door blowing off the hinges while being pelted in the face by spring snow, I rolled my eyes. Unfairly, yes—it isn't Martha's fault that spring in the mountain west is ridiculous. But really, that's just mean.

April 13, 2017

I just discovered the function in Typepad (yes, the service I've used for 12 years) that allows a search of drafted but not published posts... goodness, I have a lot of them. A Loaf of Bread is still one of my favorite shorts.

While looking for something else, I found this, which may well be one of my top ten favorite Sesame Street memories from childhood.

November 23, 2009

A post titled "Montie Montana" with NO FURTHER CONTEXT OR WRITING. What??? (I had to google this, and I came up with a cowboy who died in 1998. I have no idea why I might have started but not finished writing about a cowboy I don't remember.)

November 4, 2009

Oh, but I missed this! A partially started Ten on Tuesday post that totally explains who Montie Montana was and why he was on my brain. Among some other random, funny stories. I still hate goats.

1. On two separate occasions in the past two months we've spotted what can only be described as a roving goat mob on Dell Range Blvd., one of the main drags through Cheyenne. The first time it was kind of dusk-like light, but while stopped at a stoplight we saw what looked like 50+ GOATS in the little gully-like backyard of an apartment complex. We all saw it, so we know it wasn't a trick of the fading light. And then yesterday, Bridget and I saw the roving goat mob in a different apartment complex on Dell Range. In broad daylight. More than 50, definitely. Matt's theory is that someone is renting out goats as an environmentally-friendly way to cut the grass at local apartment complexes. I say that the minute any landlord of mine plunks 50+ goats down in my backyard just feet away from my backdoor, I AM OUT OF THERE. The only thing creepier than one goat is 50 of them, all eyeing you blankly while plotting to eat your shoes.

2. On this same trip down Dell Range we stopped at the drive-through pharmacy (!!) at Walgreen's. I remember being fascinated by the magic send-you-your-stuff system at drive-through banks when I was little, and this drive-through pharmacy worked the same way. On the magic send-you-your-stuff machinery, a town called Maineville in Ohio was imprinted as the manufacturer. I am constantly amazed at how many towns in Ohio I've never heard of, even after living there for 22 years. Ohio: state of 8 million small towns. Maineville is northeast of Cincinnati, I already looked it up for you.

3. On this very same driving adventure, I was brought to tears by a set on the Morning Music show on Wyoming Public Radio (which is one of my very favorite things about Wyoming). A singer named V-The Gypsy Cowbell (!!) sang a song her father had written about a famous (but not to me) cowboy named Monte Montana; her father had seen him perform (he was, among other things, a trick horse rider) at his elementary school when he was little. That experience made a huge impression on him, and when this Montie Montana cowboy died, her father wrote a song about him. Years later and after her father died, she heard that Montie Montana Jr. was performing at some cowboy poetry reading in Pinedale, Wyoming, not far from where she was living, so she worked up the song and came down from the mountains to find him and sing it to him in the middle of downtown Pinedale.

Despite the fact that I don't understand Ms. V's name, it was a touching story.

4. I spend more time driving from one location to the next and then back again in a week in Cheyenne than I did in an entire month or more in Arlington.*

April 15, 2010

A post titled "First Sign of Spring: Catkins"

Apparently I used to know what catkins meant but don't anymore because I just now had to look it up. Here's the picture that went with that post (catkins!)

January 25, 2012

Ten on Tuesday—I bet $10 this is the post that I was writing when the computer crashed and I lost part of my soul. Either that, or I have a short attention span and regularly stop lists at four things.

1. Matt and I just finished watching our first DVR-ed episode of Portlandia, which apparently is already in the second season... it was laugh-out-loud funny. I first learned of Portlandia by stumbling across the "Put a Bird On It" sketch somewhere online. Also laugh-out-loud funny. Especially if you are a scrapbooker/crafty type.

2. Juliette is four years old today!

3. The county spelling bee is tomorrow.

4. I ran out of time to get my unblogged stories blogged before Chinese New Year. Ah well. Here's a quick one: in October, I finally, at long last, became a giddy owner of an iPhone. We paid off the van in November (condition) and I also ran five miles** (condition, though it was a few weeks after the purchase vs. before). I love it : )

January 30, 2013

Aw, a never-finished post titled "Missing" about how much I miss these friends of mine. I get to stay with the one on the right this weekend in New Mexico! 🎉 For the record, I still miss them all very much.

July 22, 2013

An unfinished Ten on Tuesday post in which I made it to five things!

New Things We've Done/Seen/Experienced in Louisiana in the last three weeks

1. Purple hull peas. We bought a batch at the Shreveport farmers' market two weekends ago, and cooked them up as directed by the man who sold them to us. They taste a lot like black-eyed peas to us. We missed the Purple Hull Pea festival, sadly, which was a little bit north of here during the last week of June. There is nothing quite like a local food festival.

2. Mayhaw jelly. We bought some at this small gourmet grocery we went to check out last weekend. We were hoping it would be a glorious fish market (it wasn't exactly) but it had some interesting finds. We are fans of oddball berries.

3. Driving in Shreveport. I have driven back and forth to Shreveport 39 times in the last 10 days, not counting the farmers' markets. If you want to learn a new place quickly, register one of your children for a camp on the other side of the town next door from where you're living, or all of your children at a gym on another side of the town next door from where you're living. (More on that soon)

4. Chiggers. Bridget and I were attacked by chiggers last week while we were poking around the lakes on base. I will spare you the horrifying details. Just know this: if you haven't been bitten by upwards of 30 chiggers in one fell swoop, consider yourself VERY VERY LUCKY.

5. Beignets. We ate three orders of fresh mini-beignets at the farmers' market the second time we went. They were very good. Maddie thought they tasted like bananas.

Incidentally, I turned this incomplete post into two scrapbook pages for Design Challenges III.

January 27, 2017

I have told the story here before about how I was invited by my uncle and aunt to spend the summer in Casper with my cousins when I was about 10, and how I made a big old deal about how I would not be spending my summer in that ghost state.

Tomorrow I will go to Casper YET AGAIN, for YET ANOTHER REASON: gymnastics. I was trying to remember all the reasons I have been to Casper since I turned that invitation down. Here is what I came up with, even though I feel like I might still be missing something:

+ chaperoning a Delphian choir trip from Great Falls, MT to Colorado Springs, CO with a stop for a music workshop at Casper College

+ stopping at the Skillmans' house (Jill's aunt/uncle) for a visit on the way to Cheyenne from Great Falls (I think I did this more than once)

+ attending a Wyoming Library Association conference

+ earning half a master's degree (ugh) from University of Wyoming with classes that met at UW-Casper

+ driving up to have lunch with Carroll College debaters

+ coaching the Central HS Speech & Debate team at a meet

+ spending a week on top of Casper Mountain with Maddie's 5/6 grade class

And tomorrow, for gymnastics. Seriously. I get it, universe... it's not polite to scoff.

August 25, 2016

This week marks the fourth first day of school in a row in a different school/state for these girls—but it's also the least "new kid" first day of school any of them have ever had. Between teachers that know them, friends they met during the summer, friends they're back in class with, or being the younger sibilings of older sibilngs who know each other, this has been a pretty easy transition back to school in Cheyenne. HALLELUJAH.

First up: Maddie!

Maddie who is starting HIGH SCHOOL. (For nostalgia's sake, I looked up first day of school posts in my archives and got all weepy from this one.) There are still teachers and one administrator who remember when I was teaching and pregnant with her at this school, and it freaked them all right out when she showed up. It also freaked out a whole bunch of Montana-born millennials when they had to come to terms with the fact that their old childless high school teacher now has a freshmen in high school. Maddie has a few old friends to spot in classes/lunch/hallways, which makes everything just a tiny bit less intimidating. She lucked out and gets to be in a morning carpool, and didn't have a single bad thing to say about any of her teachers after the first day. I think that's a victory.

my inability to take a straight photo is bugging me, too

Gracie lucked out because she gets to spend an extra year in elementary school, which was a big relief to her—the last three places we've lived have sixth graders in middle school. We made the difficult decision not to send her back to her old elementary school here, but instead to the school where Maddie went for four years; it's a good fit for her and will be just the thing she needs before starting 7th grade. She sits across from an old preschool classmate, which is funny to us. They are both alphas and haven't changed a bit. They were good friends back then with only occasional outbursts of annoyance with each other, and hopefully they'll strike a good balance again this year : )

Bridget has had the hardest time over the last three years of bouncing from school to school, with only 1/3 of those school years working well for her. But this year... this year she has our Fairy Godteacher, same as Maddie had in third and fourth grades and we couldn't be more excited. My mama has always said my third grade teacher was "good for me" (hmph)(my third grade teacher was a structured, organized, rigid woman) but without a doubt, Mrs. Dixon will be good for Bridget. It is possible that Bridget takes after her mama and needs some structure and organization... heh. Good thing Mrs. Dixon is also lovely, patient, and kind. Miss Payerle may have been many things, but I struggle to remember lovely, patient, and kind. I may have been too distracted by the effort it took me to be less flaky and scatter-brained, though : ) Aside: Bridget wins the award for Most Changed since last year.

Ellie was ready to go upon my return from the bus stop. The first day of school is Dog New Year to her, and she and her bad heart were very ready to go on the first proper long walk of the school year. She is the best dog.

I spent yesterday drawing up a list of All the Things That Will Be Done this school year and it is giant. Wish us all good luck!

July 20, 2016

She was inducted into the Cheyenne Frontier Days Hall of Fame in 2013.

She is 81 years old, and had an elbow replacement not long ago so is taking the season off from barrel racing. She'll be back next year.

On July 3, she was assigned the task of teaching Matt how to ride a horse so he could survive a month of horseback riding (beginning on July 4 in the Greeley Stampede parade) without incident or injury. When he showed up for his first concentrated lesson, she told him she wasn't going to take any of his colonel #%*! and that he had better pay attention to her because she knew what she was talking about. Matt was all ears, obviously, and by the end of the lesson she gave him an A. I have seen her around many times through the years but had never met her until this weekend. She is awesome, is all one can say.

If you see her around say hi and thank you for her service to Cheyenne, the rodeo, and horse-ignorant military types everywhere.